Last month, I volunteered to present at a workshop for Pacifica School District and the City of Pacifica's Early Childhood organizations. These are pre-K organizations and transitional kindergartens that are located in Pacifica. The focus was on STEAM and Making with students in Pre K and TK education.

I am passionate about educating people on the importance of learning by doing and how STEAM related activities, like Making, can ultimately help a student be successful in college and career.

I started with a photo of a toddler holding a fancy DSLR camera. "What is going on here?" I inquired. Curiosity was the majority answer. As young children, the world is full of wonder. With wonder comes exploration, questioning, and trying to understand how things work. As children become older and go through their school years, how might we continue to keep this same level of inquiry instead of squashing it with direct instruction, testing and talking them to death? How might we facilitate learning experiences for students that can lend themselves to student interests and relate to the real world?

I shared Pacifica School District's definition STEAM and our vision with regard to hands - on - learning. I then had the, participate in building a coat hanger balance that they could take back and use with their students. Participants were given a bag with materials and worked in pairs or groups. Their job was to cut out pieces and figure out how to weigh items with the materials provided.

Watching the process of people talking things out, inquiring, troubleshooting and being stuck at times is always interesting to me. Our society has evolved into one of convenience and having things done for us. It is easy for people to simply say "I don't know," and give up. I find with adults this mindset can be just as common as with any other age group. And, just with any age group, there are always some people who are compelled to figure something out. I encouraged participants and when needed, asked them questions to help them with their thinking process. "Ohhh," "I get it," and hearing people help each other out were a few observations of people tapping into different thinking skills.

At the end, I brought them back together. "What did we experience?" I asked. "What were some feelings that came up when doing this activity?" Confusion, teamwork, engagement, trouble shooting were a few of the comments. "Exactly," I said. "These are the very skills that we need to tap into our learners, not only at young ages, but throughout their educational experience."